Tailgates and Touchdowns scheduled ahead of Yellow Jacket season opener

For the second year, the Starkville Parents for Public Schools chapter will host its annual Tailgates and Touchdowns event prior to Starkville High School’s first football game of the season.

District schools will set up tents serving food starting at 5 p.m. Friday outside of the SHS stadium. The chapter will operate the superintendent’s tent serving hotdogs, and a pep rally featuring the SHS band and cheerleading squad will start at 5:30 p.m. Face painting will be available, as will be other refreshments and treats. The event will end at 7 p.m. with the start of the season- opening game against the Noxubee County High School Tigers. The event is open to the public.

“We will have tailgating tents, and each school and organization in the school will come together and decorate their own tent,” said Starkville Parents for Public Schools Vice President Jeremiah Dumas. “They will have different food options. We’ll make hotdogs and have them in the superintendent’s tent. Sudduth Elementary will have pulled pork sandwiches. West Elementary will have something else, and then it just goes down the line."

Superintendent Eddie Peasant will also be present at the superintendent’s tent to interact with district families and the community at large.

“It’s also an opportunity for me to meet more people in our community,” Peasant said. “It’s almost like a second opening of school.”

Peasant said he was excited to see the debut of the football team, but also of the cheerleaders and band.

“It brings us all together as a district, because all of our schools are represented,” said SOCSD public information officer Nicole Thomas. “They all have a tent from Sudduth to Armstrong to the high school, Henderson Ward Stewart and West, so all of our schools are represented. That really pulls in all of our families from our different schools, which aren’t necessarily associated with football.”

Peasant said it would also be the first time fans experienced the updates made to the stadium over the summer.

“Riding down Victory Drive, they’ll see some updates there with our banners that celebrate all of our athletic teams,” Peasant said.

Should weather be an issue, a decision on the event will be reached prior to its start time Friday.

“This is our second year doing it in this format and having each school highlighted as part of the overall tailgate,” Dumas said.